Thank you very much to all reviewers.
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Chapter 20
He hated shots, which meant that, aside from behaving like a baby whenever confronted with them when he was conscious, he even reacted to them when unconscious. She clearly remembered his wincing as he lay comatose on med-deck after Andromeda had been boarded by Magog for the first time under his command. He had been gone, they had barely managed to bring him back, yet when Trance had injected him with nanobots after surgery he had moaned softly in spite of being out cold and filled up to his ears with painkillers and tranquillizers. It hadn't taken the new crew long to find out that the captain would rather face the united Nietzschean prides in combat than suffer through anything medical involving needles. To all aboard the Andromeda Ascendant Dylan's dislike for shots was a source of constant amusement.
The fact that the two massive injections of nanobots and painkillers hadn't triggered any reaction from him, frightened Beka more than she cared to admit. For the past hour she had tried her best to attend to his injuries; however, with her medical skills being rather underdeveloped, Beka feared that her best might just not prove good enough. She had stripped him, washed him, cleaned and treated all the open wounds that she could access and now had him safely tucked into a warm blanket. In spite of all her efforts though, Dylan's body had kept that utterly still bonelessness about it only deceased – or nearly deceased – people seemed able to achieve. But for the laboured breathing making his chest rise and fall at irregular and far apart times, the captain of the Andromeda looked for all intent and purpose quite dead.
„You did a good job on him," said a low voice from somewhere behind her.
Rebekkah Valentine stiffened, turning her head halfway towards the door and stared coldly at the man who had just entered the cramped compartment.
„So did you." The bitterness in Beka's voice was unmistakable.
Draeger stood quietly on one side of the bed, his downcast eyes silently contemplating his swollen knuckles, already blue and brown with bruises and abrasions. After a moment he lifted his head to meet the woman's gaze, who remained seated on the other side of the bed, watching him in cold contempt.
„Beka, I'm sorry. I... I don't know what came over me. If there is anything I can do..."
„I think you've done enough already," she answered him, unmoved by his apology.
Draeger sighed deeply. He had told her the truth. He was sorry for the savage way he had dealt with Hunt. And he didn't know how it had come to that.
By nature the Seefran was neither a violent nor a cruel man. He had a lust for power, wanted to dominate – by awe, if possible, by fear, if need be. But he didn't enjoy violence or an excess of brutality, nor did he think them practical. And he had once been a man of certain principles, following a certain code of honor, even if in those days he had made the rules, deciding alone about what was to be included in this code – or not. He didn't mind threatening, cheating, lying, stealing, even killing if and when it suited his purposes. But he preferred his moves to be swift, efficient and elegant, and his challenges to be adequate. Beating a defenseless man into oblivion didn't qualify.
„Beka, I really wish you would understand..." he began anew, struggling for words. „I never would have expected myself to lose it so completely. I guess that it just happened because of all the things he did to me, and because of what you said, too."
The blonde woman eyed him icyly.
„Oh, let me guess: it was all his fault and mine, right? My goodness, who is he... who am I that we might make a little fun of Mr. Jonah Draeger? Is that it? You behave like some kind of barbarian and we're the ones to blame?"
„No, of course not," Draeger exclaimed annoyed. „But for the past two years I had plenty of time to think about the things he did to me..." He didn't get to finish.
„What he did to you?" Beka's voice sounded almost incredulous. „What did he do to you? He claimed his ship back, the one I had no right to give you and that you had no right to accept."
„The ship was dead in space; it was open salvage. And you were its first officer! I brought you and it in, had a lot of expenses because the two of you..."
„She was not open salvage once her captain showed up. And my authority as her first officer ends where his begins!"
„Well, why didn't you tell me?"
„Like you would have listened!"
„I might have, had you told me everything from the start. Instead you tried to play me..."
„I did not!"
„Did too!"
„Did not!" Both voices were getting louder by the second. They glared at each other over the bed supporting Dylan's body, Draeger next to the door, Beka close to the bulkhead on the opposite side of it. They looked at each other defiantly, reproachfully and angrily, both breathing heavily. The silence between the two of them dragged on.
„Then why did he suddenly show up?" the man finally asked.
„Because before you found me, I had sent a distress signal."
„That had been weeks ago."
„Do tell!" the Maru's captain said sarcastically. „I was half starved, couldn't recall my way around the ship, let alone the proper codes at once. And the Andromeda was... well, reluctant to be of aid would be the understatement of the century. I have no clue why the message reached him when it did! And by the time he got it, I wasn't expecting anyone anymore."
„You didn't think he'd come?"
Beka shot a glance over to Dylan's still frame on the bed. She sighed, but then her eyes shifted back to Jonah.
„I didn't even know that he and all the others had made it to Seefra. But had I known... then yes, I would have thought he'd come. As long as any of them were alive, they would come looking for me." Draeger nodded, quietly respecting that for once she was giving him a straight answer. „The distress signal just said ‚Beka' and some coordinates. I think that by the time it reached him, he must have known how old it was, but still... He'll always come looking for me, and I always knew it!"
„Then why didn't you tell me?"
„Because by the time we met I thought them dead.. And frankly, it was ripping me apart. I preferred not to think about them at all. And then I fell in love with you. When Dylan showed up I was..." her voiced trailed off, but then she cleared her throat. „I was annoyed, afraid of what you might think, scared that I might lose you." Beka laughed a humourless, ironic little laugh.
„I was giving him... all of them up, Jonah, for you!" Her voice was once more getting louder. „You! Of all people! All I was asking for in return was for you to trust me – and to let him live. For that I offered you my ship, the Andromeda – and me! You should have made the deal!"
The Seefran looked at her, his eyes opened wide. Then he slowly nodded.
„I should have," he admitted, „I should have, but I didn't. As you should have told me and didn't..."
„Well, you see, I am not much into confessing..."
„Have you ever lied to him?" Draeger asked her dryly, cocking his head towards the bed upon hearing her remark.
„I didn't exactly lie to you. And lie to him? Not exactly, either. But I held back information, knowledge..."
„And he put up with it?"
Beka's eyes widened in surprise, their rich blue-grey paling a little as they seemed to go somewhat blank. Looking down on Dylan, she slowly approached the bed and sat down next to him, gazing into the small portion of his face that wasn't covered by one bruise or another.
„Come to think of it," she slowly articulated like a person wrapped up in the process of making a major discovery, „yes! From the very start and to this very day, he always put up with it..." Beka lifted her hand to lazily brush away an imaginary hair from Dylan's naked shoulder. As soon as she touched it, she couldn't suppress a frown. Draeger didn't miss it.
„What's wrong?"
„He's burning up," she answered him, alarm in her voice. Bending over the man on the bed, Draeger removed the blanket with a swift move. The bandage on the captain's thigh was drenched in red, the blood spot on it considerably larger than on the one around his head. As soon as Dylan's lower limbs were revealed, Beka sighed in distress.
„I knew I didn't do it right!" she exclaimed, her hands reaching out to touch his leg almost in a reflex. Jonah Draeger brushed them away.
„Don't blame yourself. Injuries in that region tend to bleed profusely. As do head wounds. We'll better try to clip them; bandaging might not suffice." Tenderly probing Dylan's torso he then added: „It might also prove a good idea to wrap his ribs up solidly. I think that at least two of them are broken. It would help him with his breathing." Jonah straightened himself up and looked questioningly at Beka. She seemed unsure, her eyes drifting from him to Dylan and back again, resting on him with a cautious expression. He could almost see her thoughts reflected in her eyes. He sighed:
„Beka, I really am trying to help here."
„Why should you?" she asked bitterly. „Why didn't you help sooner? Before beating him up? Before capturing us? Before putting this insane plan of yours and Paul's into practice?"
He flinched almost under her accusatory gaze. A couple of months, hell! a couple of days earlier he could have answered her without feeling so much as the shadow of a doubt about the legitimacy of his actions, now he wasn't so sure.
„Shouldn't we save the explanations for later? Let me help you with him," the Seefran urged her one more time, determined to not show his puzzlement about himself, her – the whole situation. Beka threw him another pensive glance, but then nodded an affirmative.
„There must be some clips in medical. At least, I hope there are. Paul's turned the place into a witch-cave." She shook her head in anger. „And he's been using up all available supplies. I had a hard time finding just one more injector with non-altered nanobots for tissue-repair..."
„Aren't they in the boxes left of the scanning panel?" Jonah asked in a puzzled tone.
„Nah, he's altered all of them. I was lucky to think of the one that Trance had placed in the cockpit for emergencies." Beka scrutinized Jonah's face which suddenly looked older. „What?" she asked.
He shook his head slightly. „Nothing. Just a thought."
„What thought?"
„Later. Right now we'd better get him treated. Let's wrap his ribs up first..." Jonah gently lifted Dylan's upper torso and slipped behind him, holding him up against his own body. He blew up his cheeks, surprised.
„Damn, he's heavy, a lot heavier than he looks." Beka left his remark uncommented and pulled up a panel in the bulkhead, removing a large package of elastic fibers that looked like a softly glowing, seemingly half liquid, yet very dense cotton wool. Jonah looked on with intense curiosity.
„That looks weird," he said.
„Yes, but it's effective. Harper and Trance designed it; the fiber can perform superficial scans and adjust its pressure according to the patient's needs. It is also regulating its temperature, producing heat – a permanent hot water bottle in its own right."
„That's... ingenious." Jonah sounded genuinely impressed.
„Yeah, it is," she smiled, her voice clearly betraying her pride at the accomplishments of her long time friends. Her smile faded to be replaced by a look of concentration as she began dexterously wrapping the fabric around Dylan, who remained a dead weight in Jonah's arms, his body staying as still and limp throughout the procedure as it had been before.
„He's so hot," she murmured. „And he doesn't even sweat. Why isn't he sweating?"
„Well, the sweating, I guess... The fever just started and it might take a while before it breaks again. As to being feverish at all: sometimes people suffering such kind of... trauma," Jonah offered slowly, „have their pleura hurt... That's why I'm so impressed by this stuff; your captain really needs all the warmth he can get. In case he developed a pleurisy." Beka shook her head, not entirely sure that she understood all of his explanations, but too upset to ask for more medical details.
„Not that quickly, no. Dylan is..." she hesitated.
„Well?"
„He's genetically altered. One of his parents was from a heavy gravity world; and the other one was..." She seemed at a loss for words. „I don't know, somehow made special by the Vedrans. I never really understood it, but fact is, Dylan's tough. He can take a lot, and that he is already developing a fever..." Beka's voice trailed off. „I've seen him look more alive while he was lying dead," she concluded worriedly.
„Whatever," Jonah told her in a low voice, easing himself up from behind Dylan and gently releasing the man from his grasp and back on the bed. „I'll be back in a second. Just fetching the clips and looking for some more unaltered nanobot-injectors and painkillers."
„Good luck!" Beka exclaimed. „But you won't find any."
He just shrugged his shoulders on his way out of the door.